Summary

Foreword

1. ECTN Information
2. ECT Chemistry Tests
3. ECTN Projects
4. Australian National Chemistry Quiz
5. European News
6. ECTN and EChemTest Dissemination Programme
7. Miscelleanous
8. What's coming next !

Foreword

Dear All,

For the last issue of the year, I give way to the tradition ...

°<:-)

To All of you,
For this blessed period, I'd like to wish you Happy Christmas and my warmest wishes for an Healthy and Peaceful New Year. Would the Human kind be more reasonnable in the coming year ....  ;-)

* * * * * * * * *

For this 11th issue, a couple of pieces of information coming from outside of the ECTN and more widely from outside of Europe.
I'm pleased to introduce the Australian National Chemistry Quiz, chaired by Charles Fogliani (Sturt University) who provided the status report of the latest edition of the tests. You will see that our Australian colleagues have gained a strong experience in testing students. Next the ECDL, a European project which is now available on the market, will be on focus with it's own commercial activities. Then CERAPIE a new on-line publication dedicated to the European Chemistry Education.

By the way, you already received 2 issues of the NewsLetter as a brief email, having only the link to the page on the website. Would this be satisfactory for all of you ? any remarks or suggestions to improve the service ? feel free to contact me, click >here<.

Well, I'll be short today for the latest edition of 2001.
Enjoy your reading and see you again on-line next year !!

Best regards
P.Mimero

by A. Smith
 
• ECTN Final Report

The final report for the September 2000 - September 2001 funding period has been completed and submitted to the European Commission. This report consists of 98 pages of tables and text and 158 pages of annexes. It gets larger each year - a reflection of the increasing activity of the network. That part of the report giving a description of project activities is provided here : ECTN_Final_Rep_2001.doc (96 Kb).

The annexes mainly consist of the working group reports which can be found on the ECTN web pages.

• ECTN Association

For all member institution contact people - Don't forget the deadline for applications for founding membership of the ECTN Association is 31st January 2002.
 
• ECTN Association Administrative Council and ECTN Management Committee Meeting

The next meeting of the Administrative Council and the Management Committee will take place on 16 February 2002 in Helsinki. Any member of ECTN who wishes to submit an item for discussion at this meeting should contact Tony Smith.

• Christmas and New Year

I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a Wonderful 2002. May all your wishes be fulfilled and your endeavours be successful in this new year.

by P. Mimero

• ECT Website

Most of the organizational changes on EChemTest are now done. Updates and correction were made in most of the available languages, but still are not completed.

Reminder : Contributions for the abstract archives would be greatly appreciated.

Also added to the ECTN NewsLetter pages, you will now find a "Subscribe / Change Email / Unsubscribe" set of options to email the Editor directly. I might strongly encourage you to use the 2 first options rather than the third ... of course !
 

• ECT Demo

In order to improve the demo version for both the new CDRom release and the internet on-line access, the Group Leaders reported by December 10th, for the original English version :
• General Chemistry Level 1 and 2 : correction needed
• Analytical Chemistry : review delayed / a new Group Leader should be designated
• Inorganic Chemistry : no report
• Organic Chemsitry : correction needed
• Physical chemistry : no correction needed

Within the next 3 months (deadline 31 March 2002), all other languages will have been reviewed and corrected.
The next (and last) CDRom release will hopefully be on schedule by the second trimester of 2002.
 

• ECT On-line

In parallel to the CDRom updates, the tests will be transferred into Perception format, and will then be published to the Question Mark on-line store.
 
• ECT Libraries

The translation and review of different libraries of tests is currently in progress.
• Organic Chemistry (Greek : Evangelia Varella ; German : Hans Günther Schmalz)
• Physical Chemistry (Polish : Marek Frankowicz ; Italian : Antonio Lagana)

Have I missed somebody ?
This is the longest stage ; we probably will present a status report in the near future.

by  A.Smith

• Grundtvig

No news about the Grundtvig 1 project pre-proposal except an acknowledgement giving the reference number of the application, which is 100025-CP-1-2002-1-FR-GRUNDTVIG-G1PP.
 
• FACE

The first general meeting of the FACE project (see last month's newsletter for details) will be held on 18-19 January 2002 at Idstein, Germany. Tony Smith will represent the ECTN at this first meeting.
 
• Tuning

As noted in the last newsletter, a meeting of the chemistry tuning group took place in Brussels on 16-17 November 2001. A report of this meeting is provided here : Tuning_Rep_16Nov2001.doc (28 Kb)
 
Summary

by P. Mimero

I could have written my own best description of the Quiz, but I deliberately took the option of using the material available on both the Internet website and a printed publication received from Charles Fogliani in Brisbane ...

The Australian National Chemistry Quiz was introduced in 1982. Schools from Fiji, Papua New Guinea and all Australian States were involved at the begining, but now many other countries are involved in the process. Since the origin, the number of student taking the quiz increased from 8,750 (150 schools) in 1982, up to 63,580 (854 schools) in the latest edition in 2001. To display the 2001 figures, click on the following link to access the 2001 report : ANCQ_REPORT01.DOC (71 Kb).

The aims of the Quiz are clearly related to "Science for Everybody" which is a national aim for science education. This was one of the reasons for introducing a Junior Year 7 and 8 Quiz for the first time in 1989, and a separate Year 11 and 12 Senior paper in 1992.
The Quiz is used to help select pupils to compete in the Australian Chemistry Olympiad (AChO) which is supported by the Minister for
Employment, Education and Training and the Australian Academy of Science. The Quiz consists of 30 multiple choice questions, will be 1 hour duration. The Quiz runs at two Junior Levels (Years 7 and 8, and Years 9 and 10) and at two Senior Levels (one paper for Year 11 and one paper for Year 12).

For any further information please contact directly Charles Fogliani <cfogliani@csu.edu.au>
or visit the Internet website at : http://www.raci.org.au/RACI/ChemWeek/ANCQ/default.htm
 

by P. Mimero
 
• ECDL - European Computer Driving Licence

Like our ECTN Chemistry Test Project entitled "Objective 1", ECDL is one of the European projects funded by the EU Commission. ECDL is member of the EASK Network (.../ecdl.htm) and member of the EASK Administrative Council (www.eask.be).

The ECDL Foundation promotes tests that certify a candidates knowledge of essential IT concepts and their ability to use a computer and common computer applications at a recognised level of competence. ECDL is providing a complete testing tool for certification and several tools for self-assessement. Widely represented with subsidiary companies over Europe, they are now selling their own product on-line as well as on the CDRom.

In 2001 they also published with Springer a series of 7 book "modules" (also available as a 7-volume-set) based on the computer tools, and covering the following items :

1. Basic Concepts of Information Technology
2. Using the Computer and Managing Files
3. Word Processing
4. Spreadsheets
5. Database
6. Presentation
7. Information and Communication
For more information, contact Dudley Dolan <dudley.dolan@tcd.ie> or visit the ECDL website at : www.ecdl.com

• CERAPIE Publication

A New European Electronic Journal, published since January 2000 with 3 issues per year. CERAPIE is dedicated to the Chemistry Education, as stated in it's own name, CERAPIE means "Chemistry Education: Research And Practice In Europe". It started publishing the conferences of the 5th ECRICE congress held in Ioannina (Greece) in September 1999, then followed by invited authors focusing on various thematic approaches.

Edited by Georgios TSAPARLIS <gtseper@cc.uoi.gr> (University of Ioannina, Greece),
the electronic publication is accessible free of charge at : http://www.uoi.gr/conf_sem/cerapie

... "CERAPIE is already establishing itself as a high-quality, peer-reviewed, international journal, with FAST PUBLICATION, world-wide FREE DISTRIBUTION in the Internet through a LARGE MAILING LIST. In addition, so far no publication fee has been imposed."

by A. Smith and P. Mimero

• SFC EuroChem 2002, Toulouse (France)

A common presentation of ECTN and EChemTest is under consideration for the EuroChem congress to be held in Toulouse next July 7-12 2002.

• 17th ICCE, Bellingham WA (USA)

Invited by the ACS, ECTN is expecting to present a symposium during the 17th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education sponsored by the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Education. The decisions on final programme will be made by January 5th 2002. More information about this meeting is to be found at http://chem.wwu.edu/acs/bcce/index.html. More information about the contributions of the ECTN at this meeting, if accepted, will be provided in next month's NewsLetter.

REMINDER : On-line Abstract Archives : would you like to submit an abstract right now ? click here < !

by P. Mimero

Jet Blue - Want to travel USA at a bargain price ?

Jet Blue, a new and dynamic flying company based at JFK (NY), already introduced in a previous NewsLetter,

• have now added additional flights to Florida (www.jetblue.com)
• can now help you with all your accommodation needs (www.jetblue.com/hotels)
• can offer day trip free vouchers at JFK airport

JetBlue also support the Triumph of French Painting exhibition (until January 6, 2002 - Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, NY)